At Expert DOJO many years ago we decided to launch an event which was totally focused on the environment we wanted to create rather than to promote ourselves. We called this event Pay it Forward Labs after the movie that inspired so many people around the world.

The basic principle was that being an entrepreneur is hard and doing it alone is even harder. We had seen so many events where people just collected cards and spoke about themselves with little gain, that we decided to flip the networking concept on its head by focusing on giving instead of taking.

The principle was that we would provide everything an entrepreneur could want – live bands, access to funding giants, great people to network with, drinks and the most beautiful venue in town. We then only asked for one thing. We asked that every person who started a conversation did so with the intention to help the person they were speaking with. The result was astonishing. Within a year we were hosting the biggest monthly event, not only in California but in the USA. When we expanded to San Francisco and New York we got the same response and the events became so big that they were almost impossible to manage.

Our learn from this whole process is that deep down we want to help our fellow human and we love the deeper relationships that this brings with it.

We will continue to grow these events and stay a part of this vital entrepreneur community that we love so much.